Local Food Prices, SNAP Purchasing Power, and Child Health / Erin T. Bronchetti, Garret S. Christensen, Hilary W. Hoynes.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bronchetti, Erin T.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Christensen, Garret S.

Hoynes, Hilary W.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w24762.

NBER working paper series no. w24762

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2018.

Summary:

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly food stamps) is one of the most important elements of the social safety net. Unlike most other safety net programs, SNAP varies little across states and over time, which creates challenges for quasi-experimental evaluation. Notably, SNAP benefits are fixed across 48 states; but local food prices vary, leading to geographic variation in the real value - or purchasing power - of SNAP benefits. In this study, we provide the first estimates that leverage variation in SNAP purchasing power across markets to examine effects of SNAP on child health. We link panel data on regional food prices to National Health Interview Survey data and use a fixed effects framework to estimate the relationship between local purchasing power of SNAP and children's health and health care utilization. We find that lower SNAP purchasing power leads to lower utilization of preventive health care and more days of school missed due to illness. We find no effect on reported health status.

Notes:

Print version record

June 2018.